Pages

Friday, January 27, 2012

Sunny Days and Winter Blooms

Winter is the time we replenish our water reserve in the southeast that gets drained quickly in spring, summer and fall. This month we have been making up for lost time in the rainfall department. But today the big yellow ball finally showed itself in a brilliant blue sky and the winter blooms were plentiful.

The hellebore are in their element at this time of year...

The Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Winter Gold' that I have been blogging about is finally starting to bloom.

Witch hazel is also beginning to show its streamers

Some early daffodils were out at the State Botanical Garden when I went to my Native Plants certification orientation.

And their Camellias' are way ahead of mine.

But the big news in gardening this week (well, other than the marriage of National Wildlife Federation and Scotts Miracle Gro) is that the USDA published their new plant hardiness zone map (click here to view).
You can search by your zip code making it very user friendly. Has your
zone changed? My zone moved from 7b to 8a. What does this mean for my garden? Well, our average
annual minimum temperature has changed from 5 - 10 degrees to 10 - 15
degrees over the past few years.

So I now have a larger variety of plants to choose from and can include plants selectively that grow in zone 8. I
certainly won't complain about that. It also means that my frost
dates have moved and my growing season will be a little longer. My
first frost date changed from April 15 to March 15 and last frost date
from October 15 to November 15. While the zone is a good place to start in determining if a plant will survive in a particular area, exposure, moisture, snow fall and humidity also play an important factor.

Since my winter has now officially been cut shorter I'd better get started on my seeds because growing season will be here a little earlier this year.

I checked my hellebore yesterday and still no blooms. They are in a very shady place, so perhaps it is much cooler there. My hardiness zone did not change...still 7a, but I did see the current map compared to 1990 which shows the shift....very interesting.

Those hellebores are stunning. I wonder if Canada will be updating their hardiness map in the future. It seems likely we will see some changes here too, although our weather seems to be more unpredictable in all directions rather than just getting warmer.

Miracle Grow and the NWF? That seems like a weird combo. I avoid Miracle Grow. My zone hasn't changed. I'm still a 7a. YOur hellebore are beautiful. I have a few tiny seedlings a friend gave me last spring that haven't bloomed yet. I think they're too small. That's ok. I gives me something to look forward for next winter. :o)

What gorgeous blooms!! Karin, I just wanted to let you know I am awarding your blog the "Versatile Blogger Award" I just love your posts and want to show you how much I appreciate your blog!! please visit my latest post for more details on the award and where I have also linked your blog. Cheers Julia

Welcome to Southern Meadows

At Southern Meadows we garden for wildlife. Located in northeast Georgia in eco-region 231 (Southeasst Mixed Forest Province) / zone 8a on 10 acres of meadow and forest habitat. I’m Karin, gardener, photographer and writer. I hope you enjoy a little taste of Georgia and will come back and visit often. xo!

Follow by Email

Translate

NABA Butterfly Count

The NABA Memorial Day Count (in the United States) will be held May 27-29, 2017. All you need to do is to observe butterflies at one or more of your favorite butterflying localities (such as your own backyard) this coming Memorial Day weekend and note what butterflies you’ve seen. There are no requirements regarding how much time or area you cover. Then go to the NABA web site, www.naba.org, and from there to the Recent Sightings (sightings.naba.org) web page and enter your report, filling in the location, date, and butterflies seen.